A whole lot of goldfish
by Storm Arashi
Summary: Preseries: The royal children of the Britannian empire have all had goldfish at one point in their lives. Lelouch is the only one with his pets still alive however. Nunally wants her own fish now...Everyone's dreading the new fish...Will it survive?
1. The beginning: Lelouch the fish expert

This is pre-series. I apologize if anyone is OOC it is my first Code Geass fict.

/

He dreaded the trip to the petstore Nunally was utterly estatic for.

His mother committed the ultimate sacrilege against her own son. She promised little Nunally a gold fish. The little blue eyed girl was skipping everywhere for days. Both irritating him and his half brothers and sisters. "It's gonna die." Clovis commented. "We all had a goldfish. We all know what happens to said goldfish." He said having a matter of fact attitude about him. "You better buy her a lot of candy bars and save up to buy something that won't die over night."

Lelouch didn't understand but had went to research what was so bad about having a goldfish. He unlike his siblings didn't have a goldfish. He had a community tank that was still thriving full of neon tetra's, cory catfish and Black Mollies. "Hey these need more then a bowl! Ha!" He was grinning showing the book to Cornelia, Euphemia and Clovis. "They need at least twenty gallons per fish with a filtered tank." He expected at least a nod or an "Ooh..." from Euphemia. "Bull!" Cornelia shouted.

"Yeah what does a tiny goldfish need a big tank for?" Clovis laughed at him. "They get bigger duh!" Lelouch snapped back. "Besides who here has a big tank full of tropical fish that haven't croaked?" No one but Lelouch's hand went up. "And how long has that tank lasted?" 

"A year..." The three siblings sighed. Lelouch grinned snapping the book shut turning around. The cape he wore swished around him. "Who's right?" 

"Keep that ego up and you won't live to see that goldfish." Cornelia threatened him. Letting out a quiet meep Lelouch took off down the hall. "I just remembered I have to feed my tank of ONE YEAR!"

Only to halt and yell in utter despair. Nunally was a little girl. She didn't know any better.

That's what Lelouch was trying to tell himself. Because the little blond was standing on tip-toe pouring the entire canister of algae wafers he kept for the cories into the tank. "Nunally no!" He quickly grabbed the net catching half of them. He face-palmed. He was going to have to fast the entire tank for a full day! The tetra's, mollies and cories were attacking the half that escaped the net. "Why did you do that?" He was ready to burst from anger. He was speaking calmly but on the inside he was yelling and throwing a fit. He was going to feed them blood worms for dinner that night. "They looked hungry Big brother." He couldn't stay mad at Nunally. "Besides Mama said I needed to talk to you because I'm getting my own fish!" She smiled innocently.

His anger melted away. Placing a shaking hand on her shoulder, he let out a heavy hearted sigh. "Nunally do we have enough room in your room to get the necessary tank?"

Blinking Nunally looked up at him tilting her head to the side. "What do you mean? All goldfish live in little bowls."

Lelouch pulled out his book and showed it to her. "See how big they get?"

She pointed at one with large eyes. "What's that one called?" She asked curiously. "It's a Black Moor goldfish. They're really cool. And see that one? These guys get so huge that they're the same size as your arm!"

"Wow! Can I get a big one?" 

"If we can get the right tank." Maybe he was wrong. Maybe this goldfish would be the first Vi Britannia goldfish to live past the first three weeks in their care.

/


	2. Petstore woes Accidental breeding?

/

Lelouch stared into his tank inspecting it's occupants. It was twenty gallons...It could hold more then tetra'as and cories. "Maybe I should get a betta...Or maybe some guppies. Nah the mollies will tear them to shreds...A new tank maybe..." He nodded to himself as an idea was coming to mind. Nunally was getting a tank...

He should be able to add more fish to his tank as well. Some betta females could get along provided they had a close eye watching them. Or maybe get another tank entirely.

He watched as one of his favorite cories swam up to the tank and sighed. He loved Nunally he did...But he had trouble forgiving her after his cories were still bloated from the over feeding. "At leaast it isn't swim bladder." He sighed to himself propping his chin up on his hand. "You guys better slim down or I'm adding the epsom salt without mercy." He mumbled before sighing.

"Nunally got to them?" The younger prince turned around to face Clovis. "Yeah so what?" 

"By the way I heard your mother and her talking...Their still getting a fish bowl."

Lelouch fell out of his chair. "WHAT? I thought I told her that-" He pulled out his book. "I mean come on it even says right here goldfish need twenty gallons of space per inch of fish and that they need filter tanks because their the messiest fish ever bred." He read off from the book pointing out the exact words to Clovis who shook his head.

"Brother lets face it...Her fish are screwed." He said bluntly. Lelouch slammed his book shut. "Ugh why can't anyone in this family listen to reason? I mean come on I'm the one who took in Euphie's tetra's when she nearly killed them in that tiny bowl!"

"And Cornelia is still mad about that." Clovis commented looking at the tank. "So you planning on getting more fish?"

Lelouch sighed leaning against the desk the tank was kept on. "Yeah maybe a school of guppies, or maybe some female betta's. I only have four cories and five tetra's. I don't know. I've been looking into lizards too."

His half brother nodded his head in approval. "Lizards are a lot more interesting then plain old fish." 

Lelouch pulled out a foam cup. "You wanna see what their being fed? I assure you it's grosser then crickets." 

Five seconds later Clovis ran out of the room. "Your a freak!"

Lelouch snickered and closed the container. "You'd think he never saw a bloodworm alive before." He laughed but then sighed.

The promised day was coming soon. "I'm dreading this more then I should. It's Nunally's fish...It's Nunally's fish." He repeated to himself until he could leave his room without clutching the book on freshwater fish in his hands.

He saw Nunally and his mother talking about how she was going to decorate the bowl. He should have kept his mouth shut.

He should have. Would have...Could have. Didn't want to. "Hey you know goldfish can get up to a foot long and need a 20 gallon heavily filtered tank right?" He said in passing.

"Lelouch Vi Britannia..."

He stopped short. His mother sounded cross. _No...Clovis was wrong. Nunally's fish aren't screwed...I am..._ He thought turning to fish the 'harpy' that was his mother. She was terrifying when she was angered.

"I have told you time and time again to stop this know it all attitude! Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is?" He cringed at the scolding.

"Mother may I add something?" He asked giving her the innocent look. "Clovis, Cornelia and Euphemia have been going around saying Nunally's fish is gonna die. I wanted to make sure it doesn't so she doesn't cry. I just wanted to make her happy." He buried his face in his hands beginning to fake cry very convincingly. "Please forgive me!" He was a brilliant actor.

His mother hugged her young son smiling softly. "All is forgiven. Since you seem to know what your doing...I'll think about it." She replied ruffling his hair. Laughing he remembered his idea. "Um Mother I was wondering..."

/

Nunally was the first one into the petstore. Her half siblings and mother trailed behind her as she skipped back and forth to each tank looking in briefly.

Lelouch broke off from the crowd in search of his own goal. He had permission to get fancy guppies and a fry tank just in case.

He was going to use the ten gallon fry tank however as another community tank. Stopping infront of a shelf of small cupped fish he carefully picked one up. "Betta's huh..." He murmured. He liked the one he, was holding but he knew nothing about caring for betta's long term. Placing, the cup back he spotted his family members around a large pond like tank. "Hey what's that?" He asked walking over. Euphemia and Nunally hid behind him. "Sharks!" The girls yelped.

Blinking Lelouch looked over just in time for one to leap out of the water. Yelling moved back covering his face. Everything, was quiet aside from the hum of filters and the splash the shark made upon making contact with the water. "I think...We should go find those goldfish and some guppies." Marianne commented shooing the children away from the sharks. "Isn't that right?" 

The three half siblings looked to each other. _I want a fish..._ They all thought feeling a twinge of jealousy. Then again they knew their fish would be in Lelouch's tanks by nightfall. "Oh! Look at how big this one is!" Nunally squealed catching their attention. "Huh? What's so big?" Clovis asked as he ran up.

Only to see a goldfish that was as big as the fish they had for dinner the previous night.

Silence as Lelouch covered his mouth trying to stifle his laughter. "So that's how big mine would have gotten." Cornelia mumbled. Clovis looked guilty and Euphemia pouted. "So ours were just babies..."

At that Lelouch couldn't contain it anymore. He laughed at them. "Yeah they sell them young but then lie to the customers!"

"Lelouch what did I say about the attitude?" His laughter halted immediately. "But they laugh at me."

Fuming Cornelia moved to smack her half brother but Clovis grabbed her. "Don't do it! It's not worth it!" As Lelouch walked off to look at the fish he had in mind. Looking into the tank he scrunched up his nose. "They looked better online." He mumbled at the muddy bodies of some of them. Their tails were nice.

Then he noticed them. Tiny little fish swimming around. He gasped. "I never saw fry before!" He was getting a fry tank as guppies were known to reproduce like rabbits. "Hey everyone! Come over here and look at this!"

Nunally pouted. "Brother I wanted to pick out my goldfish." She said as she walked over. "What are those?"

The grin her brother shot at his half siblings irritated them. "Their called fry. Newborn fish to be exact. This is what all fish look like before they grow up." He explained his grin never leaving his face. "These happen to be guppy fry. Possibly only a day or so old." He added as an afterthought.

Nunally however had a different idea. "Oh! They're so cute!" She squealed at the guppies. "Mother can I have a guppy and a goldfish?" 

"Well I don't see why not. They should fit in the same bowl." 

Lelouch facepalmed. "The rule of thumb for aquarium keeping is one gallon for every fish going in the tank. Your goldfish needs a 20 gallon with a thirty gallons filtration-" He noticed no one was paying attention to anything he said. "Augh! No one listens to me!" He crossed his arms fuming silently going to look at the ten gallons. "I'll have to cycle this too...I'll get some bettas for this. I can split it three ways." Nodding to himself he went to look at filters and picked up a leaflet on betta keeping. "Heaters..Well I did get permission." He smirked to himself looking at the different brands. As he did this Nunally picked out a little sunburst goldfish.

Her siblings looked solemm as their items were rung up. "I'm gonna take good care of this fish!" She announced on the way back home. "Just don't shake the bag..." Cornelia warned her. She killed her own fish by shaking the bag.

"Yeah don't be like Cornelia...Vicious girl." Clovis muttered only to get a box of filter cartridges to the head. "Ow!"

"Don't talk to my sister like that."

"Our sister."

"I'll make this car stop right here and you two can walk home."

The boys were silent the entire way back.

Marianne hadn't minded Lelouch wanting to make a three way tank instead of keeping it for fry.

"Now remember Nunally acclimate it. No petstore water in the same bowl as the fish okay?" He knew that little fish was doomed the second she uttered Fish-bowl. He wasn't going to say anything.

Tending to his own tank he did his homework watching his pets. It was relaxing. "Hang on a second." He murmured noticing something flitting about.

Lifting the hood up he looked in on the tank. He had gotten only female mollies! There was no way he had gotten a male. "Or is there...Oh god!" He set up the ten gallon quickly enough. "CLOVIS! CORNELIA! I NEED HELP!" He shouted. The door was open.

"What is it?" 

"What's wrong? Who died?" Clovis was prepared for the worst. Cornelia knew the look on Lelouch's face. The look that he didn't calculate what had happened. "No one died. My mollies bred! I need help in transfering them!"

It took a long time to catch the tiny fry but the siblings collapsed onto Lelouch's bed after it was done. "Did we do everything right?" Clovis murmured. Lelouch looked as if he was in deep thought.

"Do you guys still have those sea-monkey kits?" He asked curiously. Cornelia and Clovis shared a look but nodded. "The fry need live food to survive get those kits out and start growing them. I'm gonna see if I can find any bloodworms that are small enough." He got up turning to glare at them. "You have your orders let's make sure this survives!"

/

I know it's getting to be from about Nunally and goldfish to Lelouch having his own tank troubles. I couldn't resist.

I hope everyone enjoyed this much longer chapter. The previous chapter was the prologue.


	3. It's dead Lelouch

/

He had 100 fry. He counted every last one of them as he fed the little black fish the live brine shrimp he had been 'given' by Clovis and Cornelia.

At threats of their deepest secrets being revealed. That was not the point however. He had taken out 100 fry. Today he counted less then fifteen. "What killed them all?" He murmured adding in another drop of the live shrimp watching them hunt.

"Poor things." He sighed turning around. He had to go check on Nunally's fish. She insisted she could take care of it.

He had a bad feeling something had happened to it. Walking into it he found Nunally asleep on her daybed curled up like a kitten. He smiled softly at the sight. She was so innocent.

Turning to the fish bowl he looked in...Only to cringe. "Oh no..." He whispered quietly picking up the bowl and hurrying out of the room.

"Guys! Guys! We got a problem!" He didn't get along 'perfectly' with his siblings but when it came to the younger siblings...They got along better then most. "Nunally's fish died!"

Cornelia face-palmed. "How the hell did it die so fast? We got it just yesterday!" She snapped. "You did something to it didn't you?"

Lelouch placed the bowl on the coffee table. "Will you clam up? Nunally was asleep when I found the damn thing dead!" He snapped back in a hushed town motioning to the fish. "I told you all it needed a bigger tank."

"Would a bigger tank have kept THIS puny thing alive past the 15 hours we had it?" Clovis countered. Lelouch sighed. "You know I hate it when your right...Wait a second." He took a closer look at the dead fish.

It looked as if it had been covered in salt. "It-it had ich..." He murmured stepping away from it. He had recently dealt with an outbreak of the parasites known to kill fish. "It was screwed even before we stepped foot into that place." He added a little louder.

Euphemia frowned thoughtfully. "What will we tell Nunally? She'll be heartbroken!" She exclaimed.

Lelouch immedietly closed his eyes thinking up a plan. "We'll replace it. Go to a different petstore get this same kind of goldfish: It's called Sunburst goldfish get one the liveliest looking one at that. That job is yours and Euphie's, Cornelia. Clovis and I will stop at the nearest hobby supply store and pick up a twenty gallon clear plastic bin. By the way we'll all chip in for a filter and substrate. We'll just say we upgraded it for her as a gift. Got it?" In this time that he had begun explaining his explanation his siblings had lined up infront of him. "Sir yes sir!" They saluted.

"We meet in the car in two hours! I'll..Deliver to the news to mother and explain the plan. Will someone...Flush it? And toss out the bowl?" He couldn't use it for his mollies anyways. "Besides...I need to buy fry food." The siblings left the room aside from Cornelia. She scowled. "Thank you Lelouch I don't know what to say." She muttered picking up the bowl. "Oh yeah...Your dead meat."

/

The children were dressed casually. Shorts, jumpers, T-shirts. Whatever will make them appear normal. "We got permission to carry out the mission. Now go forth and let's make sure Nunally never finds out!" Lelouch commanded having performed his 'command' pose years before he would ever use it.

"Sir!" Clovis and Lelouch piled into one car. The girls in the other.

It was a mission to keep Nunally from finding out.

However Lelouch didn't realize at home Nunally was messing with his own tank.


End file.
